Mining is the fourth-largest energy consumer in Australia, using roughly 10% of Australia’s total. Some of this comes from the electricity grid — but much is supplied offgrid in the form of diesel and…

Coal seam gas is only one issue for managing one of Australia’s most important geological resources.
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
December 9, 2014

Sara Bice, University of Melbourne; Mike Sandiford, University of Melbourne, and Will Howard, University of Melbourne

In a recent article on The Conversation, Queensland coal seam gas (CSG) researchers argued that the industry is progressing faster than the science, leading to concerns over fugitive emissions and impacts…

Australia has some fairly ambitious goals for green energy: a renewable energy target (currently under review) of 20% of electricity from renewables by 2020, and a forecast to get 51% of electricity from…

The eastern Caribbean island of Montserrat has suffered more than its fair share of natural disaster. In 1989, Hurricane Hugo struck the island, causing massive destruction with more than 90% of the island’s…

CSIRO is contending with a A$111 million hit to its budget over four years.
Bidgee/Wikimedia Commons
May 28, 2014

What happens to CSIRO when the federal government decides to strip away A$111 million over four years from its A$733 million annual contribution to the organisation’s budget? We are beginning to find out…

Getting into hot water - one of Iceland’s geothermal power plants.
Gretar Ívarsson
January 29, 2014

Solar and wind power rightly receive a lot of attention as we struggle to ramp up renewable electricity and move away from fossil fuels. But in a damp, blustery island such as ours, generating heat is…

The Champagne Pool at Wai-O-Tapu, New Zealand: hot water for free.
Rebecca Naden/PA
July 31, 2013

Geothermal energy is derived from heat produced by the decay of radioactive elements within the Earth’s molten core, where temperatures reach 6000°C around 6000km below the ground. This heat naturally…

With improvements in enhanced geothermal systems technology the earth’s heat could become a major electricity generator.
Flickr/xavierbt
April 30, 2013

Geothermal means, literally, “earth heat”. The temperature of the earth increases as we drill deeper towards its core. We can use that heat for energy by circulating water through hot subterranean reservoirs…

For centuries, the shallow parts of the earth’s crust have provided us with fuels to burn in our fireplaces, foundries and generators. Now, as we try to break free from our reliance on some of the dirtier…